Thursday, July 31, 2008

This weekend should be a great time up in Tacoma as the 7th annual Hotrod-A-Rama rolls into town. We'll have the Vintage Roadside booth on hand so stop by and say hello. The event promises to be a goldmine of traditional hot rods, customs, and vintage drag cars. There will be plenty of great live music, interesting vendors, and good food. Friday night offers up a little something different in the form of the "Glam-O-Rama Burlesque Show" so if you're looking for a vintage evening of entertainment you'll want to plan for that.

When: Friday night and all day Saturday (August 1st & 2nd)

Where: 1904 South Jefferson (the Swiss Tavern) downtown Tacoma.

How much: Car show, free! Swiss Tavern does charge admission for music events but have not confirmed cover charge.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

We had a wonderful time at the Tik Tok Reunion this past weekend and wanted to say thank you to Jim Tyson of the Road Knights and Amy Snyder from the Portland Foursquare Church for all of their hard work organizing the show.

We had the Vintage Roadside booth on hand offering our Tik Tok t-shirt along with a few of our other shirts, including Pixieland, but there were two things we most looked forward to: the opportunity to hear firsthand from people who had been to the Tik Tok and to have the opportunity to display a handful of our Portland, Oregon restaurant items. We had original Tik Tok menus, a Tik Tok ashtray, 1963 Yellow Page ads for The Speck Drive In, and other items from classic Portland restaurants such as Waddle's, Jolly Joan's, The Stirrup Room, and more. Another highlight for us were the memories people jotted down in our Portland scrapbook. Here are a couple of examples:

"Looking for action on a Friday or Saturday night? Hit Jim Dandy's, then on to Yaw's, Scottie's, and the Tik Tok. Last chance was the Speck on Foster."

"Ate at the Tik Tok and walked over to Scottie's to request a song from dj Dick Novak. Announced our engagement on the radio (before we told our folks)." 1957

As our goal at Vintage Roadside is to collect and share as much history and as many stories as we can from these bygone places, events like the Tik Tok Reunion are invaluable. We want to say thank you to everyone who spent time with us sharing memories and stories, especially one gentleman who told us how he used to hang out with his hot rod for hours at the Tik Tok. The toll? A carton of milk and one toasted bun for $0.05. Thanks also to everyone who offered their appreciation for the history we're preserving and sharing through Vintage Roadside.

In other Tik Tok news we began work on a documentary about the Tik Tok Drive In. We'll have more information in the next few weeks regarding the film.

If you have memories of going to your favorite drive in you'd like to share we'd love to hear from you. Just click here which will take you to the Vintage Roadside contact form.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

If you live in Portland you've probably heard stories about the drive in restaurant that used to be located in Southeast Portland at the corner of 12th, Burnside and Sandy. That drive in was none other than the legendary Tik Tok Drive In, Portland's first drive in restaurant. Serving hungry guests day and night and proving to be a popular hangout for decades, the Tik Tok operated from 1938 to 1971.

This Saturday the Portland Foursquare Church (which owns the property the Tik Tok used to sit on at the corner of SE 12th & Burnside) along with the Road Knights Car Club will host the 2008 version of their popular reunion at the former Tik Tok location. The show kicks off at 9:00 am and runs until 2:00 pm. Got a car you used to cruise through the Tik Tok parking lot in? Bring it down! Car registration runs $10.00 and admission for guests is free. In addition to the expected 100 cars, there will be live music, food, and children's activities.

We'll be there with the Vintage Roadside booth selling our Tik Tok Drive In t-shirt along with our Pixieland t-shirt and a selection of our other designs. We'll also be hosting a history display that will include original Tik Tok menus, ashtrays, and other assorted Portland, Oregon drive in memorabilia.

The event also received a nice mention on the Willamette Week website. You can find that article here.

Profits from the event will benefit the Buckman Elementary SUN Scholarship Fund, so come on down and have a great time. We've even heard that there might be a few former employees at the show. What a fantastic opportunity to hear firsthand how it really was!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

We wanted to let everyone know that we'll be at the Palmer Wirf Antique & Collectible show this weekend at the Portland Expo Center. If you've never been to the July show before you're in for a treat! The show fills all three halls along with the entire upper parking lot with dealers. The latest count we heard was over 1700 vendors which translates into an amazing amount of cool stuff you've been trying to find for years along with things you never even knew you needed! Who knew you had always wanted, but somehow forgotten, about that Ker Plunk game! At least we hope it's not just us that finds that to be the case every time.

We'll be out in the parking lot vendor area (same spot as last year, booth 69) but have expanded into the adjoining booth for a space twice as big as last year. So stop by and say hello, check out all the latest Vintage Roadside t-shirts, and show us all the cool things you found at the show. Personally I'm still bummed I missed out on the lighted S&H Green Stamp sign last year!

When: July 11th - 13th (note the 11th is an "early bird" day with higher admission)

Monday, July 7, 2008

When we here at Vintage Roadside heard there was going to be a Billetproof show up our way in 2008 the first thing we asked for was a vendor space and the second was when will it be? As it turned out the first annual Billetproof Northwest show was held on June 27th in Chehalis, Washington.

We've heard for years how great the show in Antioch is and couldn't wait to see how well that would translate up our way. I think the overwhelming consensus is that this was quite possibly one of the greatest hot rod shows to ever hit the NW! Alan and his crew did an amazing job. From the Friday night party in downtown Centralia to the quality of cars at the show, we're already planning for and looking forward to the 2009 show!

We had a great time, met tons of people, loved the cars, and appreciated all the kind words about our Vintage Roadside t-shirts. Thanks everybody!

Now on to some photos.

Friday night in downtown Centralia

Pinstripe artist El Robbo's machine

Heading out

Lots of great sleds

Loads of great hot rods down from Canada

There was plenty to look at Friday night

Rolf's Coupe

Just one of the 600+ great cars in town for the show

Next up for Vintage Roadside will be:

The Palmer Wirfs Antique show at the Portland Expo July 11th - 13thThe Tik Tok Drive In Reunion July 19th - Portland, OregonHotrod-A-Rama August 1st & 2nd in Tacoma, Washington

See! World Famous Vintage Roadside™!!

Thanks for stopping by. We've decided to chronicle the roadtrips we take here at Vintage Roadside™ along with assorted history articles, preservation efforts, Vintage Roadside™ t-shirt news and roadside thoughts. We hope you enjoy the recaps. We urge everyone to jump in a car and see the wonder of the great American roadside. Remember, keep arms and legs inside the moving car at all times.

About Me

Vintage Roadside is an online gift shop and history site featuring t-shirts with authentic vintage graphics from the 1930s - 1960s as well as fine art prints from our travels. We are also actively involved in a wide range of preservation projects.